On February 12, 2012, my wife and I celebrated our third anniversary.

I’ll wait a second and let all of the Aww‘s pass before I move on.

Okay, I think we’re good.

What made this anniversary special was that we decided to spend the weekend in New Orleans. Though I grew up in North Louisiana, I’ve been to New Orleans only a handful of times, so my experience is very limited. Before our anniversary trip, I had last been in New Orleans in the summer of 2007, when I was an idiot college kid who was concerned only with getting some cheap drinks.

I’m happy to say that my 2012 experience was very different (and also better). This trip was more of a culinary adventure.

Of course, while we were there, we had to get some beignets. Actually, in the months leading up to our New Orleans anniversary trip, my wife told me on numerous occasions that we had to — just had to — go to Cafe Du Monde. Why? Because it is just the place for beignets, ain’t ya heard! She raved about it so much that Pouncer, her school’s mascot, insisted that he come along so that he could sample a taste.

The line to get into Cafe Du Monde was rather long; it must have something to do with “world famous” tag I’m always hearing people throw around. But we didn’t let that deter us as we braved the cold front and the accompanying wind that had swept into New Orleans that weekend.

When we were finally seated, we were led to a table that still had the previous party’s dirty dishes on it. After a few minutes, they were finally removed, and about 20 minutes after placing our order, we were presented our beignets and cafe au lait (I later found out that “cafe au lait” is a fancy way of saying “coffee with milk”, but when you say it so blandly, you don’t sound as cultured; no, you just sound boring and North Louisianan or even Texan). Once our food was delivered, we never saw our waiter again; this was also the first time I’d ever been asked to pay for my food immediately.

After we left, my wife said that she felt that Cafe Du Monde wasn’t all that great; she was obviously disappointed. Looking back, her declaration that Cafe Du Monde, despite the hype, was not all that and a bag of chips was a brave stance to take. After all, we just stood in line in the cold and the wind when we could have easily gone somewhere else, somewhere much more accessible. And we waited for a table that hadn’t even been cleaned yet and some of the worst service I’ve ever had (and to think, I tipped!). And when we were seated, it was among a mass of people (maybe over 100 others?) who had waited and had the same expectations as my wife.

It had to be a good experience, right?

Well, the next morning we found out that Cafe Beignet was a better experience. And it had better beignets. And in all fairness, probably better cafe au lait. Not bad for a tiny little cafe that most tourists likely pass as they get lost on their way to Cafe Du Monde.

Though I likely do it more than I realize, I at least like to think that I’m not much of a hype follower. Normally, if I have the option between that thing that everyone is fighting to get or that thing that is easier to acquire and will fulfill my needs just as well, I’ll usually go with the latter option.

That said, after eating at Cafe Du Monde, for maybe the third time in my life, I felt like one of the cool kids. I felt hip, I felt in the know. Why? Because I’ll never be that guy sitting on his couch watching a program about New Orleans on PBS or The Travel Channel, finding himself saying, “Oh man, I just have to go to Cafe Du Monde some day.” No, I’ll never say that.

Because I’ve already been. I’m in the club. I got the t-shirt.

I think that this is probably what I hoped to feel when I went out of my comfort zone and became one of the early adopters of the HTC Thunderbolt, the first 4G smartphone from Verizon! Unfortunately, that blew up in my face as those who waited got 4G phones with greater capabilities and they also did not have to endure one month of their phone randomly restarting as Verizon and HTC dragged their feet to fix the problem. But hey, that’s another story for another blog post.

In summary, I feel that Cafe Du Monde presently is not worth the hype. BUT they have to have done something right at some point, haven’t they? Surely this hype didn’t just create itself. Somehow the legend was born and Cafe Du Monde has found a way to perpetuate it and capitalize. They are certainly in an enviable position as they have found a way to stand out and obtain must see status in a city that has so much to offer.

By the way, I know what you’re thinking…

But Jake, this post started with talk about your anniversary. Where is the obligatory kissy picture?

Well, I gotcha covered.

There we are, kissing in front of the Mississippi River. Or as one drunk tourist kept calling it — Lake Pontchartrain. I thought about correcting the lady, but now I realize that maybe Lake Pontchartrain was her Cafe Du Monde. And there’s really no harm that can come from her never knowing that she was actually looking at the Mississippi River…unless she tells that story to friends who have better knowledge of New Orleans geography, I guess.

Four years ago, I waited anxiously, dressed in my cap and gown, ready to shake Dr. Reneau’s hand and receive my degree. Four years ago, I said goodbye to one chapter of my life and hello to the next uncertain one that was peeking around the corner. Four years ago, I graduated from Louisiana Tech University.

Though I graduated only a short time ago, it’s hard to believe how much things have changed. Just before the end of my time on campus, Tech had just started putting up on-campus apartments. Now it seems as if the damn things are everywhere. Apparently, some new food choices have sprung up since I’ve left (where the hell were you during my days, McAlister’s?). I cannot remember if the nanotechnology building was there before I graduated, but if it was, it wasn’t there long. And now Tech wants to make a great big edition to the south end zone of the football stadium. And Tech is eagerly trying to improve its status among the country’s research universities.

With all that is going on, it is safe to say that Tech is on the move. And after revisiting the school for Homecoming, I feel as if the school is truly focused on its goal and is headed in the right direction.

It’s more than just words; Tech has adopted a brand to facilitate its missions.

In case you are not very familiar with Louisiana Tech University, it is located in Ruston, Louisiana, a town with a population a little over 20,000. Ruston isn’t a big party town, but when I was a student, I didn’t have to look too far to find a little trouble to get into. The campus is unbusy and has a secluded feel to it, and everywhere in town you go, you are reminded that the university is a huge part of the local community.

Louisiana Tech is not LSU, and Ruston is not Baton Rouge. And that’s where Tech has found its brand.

When my wife and I returned to Ruston for homecoming, I saw a slogan that I felt perfectly summed up what makes Tech so great: Your town. Your team. Your gameday.

The slogan reminded me of my own time at Tech, when I routinely saw the athletes on campus or in my classes. My largest class at Tech was made up of 150 students, so it’s pretty easy to spot people, especially the athletes that you see when you go to the sporting events. Ruston really does feel like your town, because as I said earlier, you are constantly reminded that Tech is a big part of the town. And with the athletes so easily accessible, you can’t help feeling a little closer to them, even though they may not be your best friends.

The slogan also reminded me of a conversation I had with a stranger in a courthouse in Pecos, Texas. The gentleman told me that his grandson once attended Tech but then transferred to LSU. When I asked how his grandson liked LSU, the gentleman replied without hesitation, “He’s a number, just like everyone else.” To me, that’s what your town and your team address: you’re not just a number, you’re a part of something; you’re a part of Tech.

With this brand also comes an image.

For some schools, this might not sound like a big deal. But for the longest time, Tech had an identify crisis with its bulldog. In the past, a bulldog on one piece of material may look like Georgia’s bulldog or Gonzaga’s bulldog, but now it seems that Tech has found its bulldog, a consistent and familiar image that is linked to one school, La Tech. La Tech’s “State T” emblem (see the La Tech image below) is already a great image, but now the school has the Bulldog to go along with the school’s image.

Speaking of “La Tech”, I first heard the term when I watched the Bulldogs take on the Miami Hurricanes at Independence Stadium in 2003. During the game one of the commentators referred to my future alma mater as La Tech, and I cringed as the words hit my ear. Fast forward to 2011, and much of Tech’s merchandise brands the school as “La Tech”.

When you think about it, “La Tech” makes sense. It’s short and quick to say, and it fits on merchandise more easily than “Louisiana Tech”. And I personally think that La Tech is better than “LTU”. I myself may still refer to my school as Louisiana Tech, but I get it.

A small school with resources.

I’m not sure if other schools the same size as Tech (with a student body close to 12,000) have as many famous alum and former students as Tech has. Some of these include names such as Terry Bradshaw, Karl Malone, Willie Roaf, Kix Brooks, and Trace Atkins. And that’s not even talking about the ladies who played on the Lady Techsters basketball team during the program’s years of glory, ladies such as Theresa Weatherspoon and Cheryl Ford.

Some of these former students can be seen on the jumbotron at football games, telling fans to get up and cheer. At homecoming, Roaf was seen taking pictures and signing autographs. A few years ago, Karl Malone donated a new floor for the basketball teams as the Thomas Assembly Center. Terry Bradshaw donated his Super Bowl memorabilia for the university to showcase. Sure, historic big-time programs such as Notre Dame, Michigan, and Ohio State have numerous alum who can pull together to support their universities, but to a school like La Tech, these people are much more precious and significant.

And what of the lesser-known masses?

On November 19, my wife, some friends, and I went to see the Bulldogs basketball team play the University of Texas at Arlington Mavericks. And on New Year’s Eve, we plan on going to see the ‘Dawgs take on the SMU Mustangs in Dallas. I hope that Tech will continue to play teams in areas that their alum relocate to and areas that their students come from (markets such as Dallas, Houston, all over Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi). Also, it would be great if the university would consistently play some of the local schools (such as Grambling and University of Louisiana at Monroe) in a variety of sports so that the fun rivalries that these student bodies create can be capitalized upon.

How ‘Bout Them Dawgs!

Anyone who graduates from a school he cares about hopes to see that school progress and improve itself. And I am proud to say that Tech is moving forward while still trying to retain a bit of its history and traditions. Since both my wife and I are graduates of Tech, I’m pretty sure that our future children can attend our alma mater for cheap (although the school won’t be as cheap by the time we’re ready for that).

But I do hope that someday, when we’re touring the campus with our future Bulldogs, we can both smile and say, “Tech wasn’t the same back in our day.”

It’s been a crazy week in the sports and business worlds lately. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock (or if you’ve taken a break from social media), Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011. And, as I’m typing this post, I am only a few hours past having heard of the passing of the legendary (and often hated) Raiders icon Al Davis. Both of these men had their own style and often rubbed their competitors the wrong way. But they cared not and have left the world with a legacy that will live on far past their years on this Earth.

In regard to Steve Jobs in particular, I saw numerous people who had a feeling of “Where do we go from here?” When you take a second to sit back and truly reflect on all that Steve Jobs was able to accomplish, his resume was pretty damn impressive. When he came back to Apple, he made the computer not just functional but cool and hip. With the iPod and iTunes, he helped to change the business model of the music industry. He turned a cell phone, a device which was intended for making calls, into a nearly all-purpose electronic device, a mini-computer in your pocket while you’re out and about. And of course, we can’t forget about the iPad.

I think that most football fans remember Al Davis’s latest years and mistakes while running the Raiders and forget about how he helped to shape the NFL as we know it today. Many speculate that he was greatly responsible for the AFL/NFL merger after, as commissioner of the AFL, he more or less called out the NFL and put a target on the league’s back. With his own style, he was able to create one of the historic powerhouses, and many forget that he was always willing to give minorities positions of great power in his organization. Under the Raiders, Tom Flores was the first Hispanic coach in the league, and he hired at least two other minorities as head coach: Art Shell and Hue Jackson. Also, Amy Trask, the team’s CEO, is currently the only female CEO in the league.

Both of these men had great influence, and their impacts will be felt for many, many years to come. And yes, it is hard to imagine a world without these two, as is the case with many other great minds of their industries and times.

But that’s no reason to fret. After all, the world keeps on turning.

This is part of our constant evolution. Great minds come and make their impact, and unfortunately, great minds leave. Of course, a gap is left, but gaps need to be filled and so an opportunity is created.

Who knows what the future holds, but surely something else is ahead.

At least these two will have some sense of immortality, even if they weren’t able to stay with us physically.

I really enjoy being a petroleum landman. Unfortunately, since I have only a couple of years of experience, I often find myself asking for help or bouncing ideas off people. However, so far I have been lucky enough to be only a phone call or a surprise visit away from someone who can help.

When I do ask for help, the thing that gives me the most pleasure is when I present a question that causes a dinosaur of the industry to scratch his head and take a moment to contemplate the scenario. Sometimes these questions lead to long discussions and debates. We end up throwing some ideas out there, deciding that those ideas are stupid, throwing some more ideas out there, going back to our former ideas…

And sometimes it leads to the dinosaur calling one of his attorney friends for more perspective. These occurrences make me feel just a little less stupid.

Because of these situations, I will never trust someone who knows it all. Or someone who thinks he knows it all, anyway.

Working in oil and gas can be tricky, especially when you consider that you’re dealing with legal documents written up by clever and crafty lawyers who like to show off their extensive vocabularies. Also, you have different norms in different prospect areas. In one county, people may have done things this way; in another county, you find that they did things completely different.

I don’t see how any landman can honestly think that he’s seen it all.

And I’m sure your industry is the same. Surely there are any number of things that can happen and cause problems for you, things that require debate rather than a quick “Oh yeah, I saw that back in ’97. Just do this.” Of course, you know much better than I do.

Unfortunately, there are some unfriendly landmen out there. You might see them at the courthouses being rude to the clerks from time to time. While this may bother me on one hand, it doesn’t bother me on the other because I feel that that makes it easier for me to be seen as a friendly, smiling landman.

In his recent blog post, Justin Kownacki talks about The Power of Small Talk. He makes the point that small talk can often lead to someone else revealing some interesting or important information to you which you can then turn around and share with others and seem that much more helpful or just plain interesting. With my line of work, this strongly applies to the clerks at the courthouses or the workers at the the abstract plants, especially when I am working in a small town.

First of all, every courthouse is different. Some courthouses have certain records on a computer, in the books, on microfilm. Some types of records might be in specific index books. Maybe the probate records are in a different part of the courthouse; the District Court case minutes often are. When you walk into a new courthouse, you never know what you’re in for. And who better to guide you than the clerks? Of course, the process goes much more smoothly if you’re friendly and they like you.

In small towns, you often find that everybody knows everybody else. While you can’t take oral history as hard proof, the knowledge of the local folk can often lead you in the right direction. Sometimes you may suspect that a party of interest may be deceased, and sometimes asking the clerks can give you a solid yay or nay. After all, the clerks have probably been going to church with that person for 20 years; they’ll know if his seat has been warm or not.

I sometimes joke that the most important decisions of my day revolve around what I’m going to have for lunch or dinner. But when I am in a small town for the first town, I’m often scared to try anything new. After all, in those really small towns, you might not have McDonald’s or Applebee’s or any of those other chains that you know what to expect from. You might think that McDonald’s and Applebee’s suck, but at least you know the food’s going to suck before you go there. Remember: the clerks are often local people; they know where the good eat joints are.

Also, the clerks can help you to find the damn appraisal district whenever you need it.

You never know where being friendly and engaging in small talk can lead you. When I was working in Dallas County a couple of years ago, I became buddies with a certain clerk. In order to get copies of your documents, you had to give the clerks the microfilm that contained the needed documents along with a list of what you needed. Often, this clerk would take my order first even though I may be the tenth person in line. You can’t beat that. And why did she do it? Because I asked about her day and her life and opened up about myself just a bit.

In all fairness, some clerks aren’t all that friendly and you may feel that there’s no point in being nice and shooting the bull. If nothing else, maybe it’ll keep you away from her bad side.

The lesson in Kownacki’s blog post is seemingly universal; surely, it can apply to nearly every field. This is just a small example of how it fits into the landman field. How does it fit into yours?

Do you ever listen to the opposition? The other side, the one who is sure to disagree with everything that you say and stand for? If you don’t, I understand.

It’s so easy to ignore the other side. And you may think that it’s in your best interest to do so. After all, who wants to listen to all of those opposing voices that are sure to bring your vibe down? Besides, if you don’t listen, it’s almost as if nothing’s being said, right? If a tree falls in the woods and no one’s there to hear it…

But if you’re in the business of converting people to your way of thinking, shouldn’t you listen to the opposition? Shouldn’t you know what perceptions you need to combat?

Here’s a personal example…

I work in the oil and gas industry. A while back, I started hearing about all of the hype that the documentary GasLand was getting. All I’m going to say about the film is that, if you hate the oil and gas industry, then GasLand is your wet dream.

But I watched it, because I just had to know what was being said. I had to know what the opposition was throwing out there. Apparently, a lot of other people in similar situations were curious about what the documentary had to say, because I had no problem finding plenty of attempts to debunk the film.

Of course, like any other piece of advice, this can’t be taken to heart and exercised 100% of the time. Sometimes you have to ignore what others say, especially when they are simply negative without offering any constructive criticism. And sometimes you have to accept that you’re just going to have some haters.

But how can you change perception if you don’t know what the perception is? As is the case with many things in life, if you’re seeking to accomplish something, it helps to have a goal or destination in mind.

Photo Credit: Conversant Life

Product/service providers:
Unfortunately, from time to time, you are going to lose customers. While I understand that you owe it to yourself and perhaps even the customer to give things another shot and see if you can salvage the relationship, sometimes you just have to accept that it’s not going to work out. And also, it helps if you don’t spam your former customers away. You may feel that, in the end, you have nothing to lose because either way you’re not gaining a customer back, but if you don’t spam people, at least they won’t be quite so pissed off at you.

This is such a story.

In early May, I became the proud owner of a new 2010 Toyota Venza. Although I had been without a car payment for a year and was getting used to the idea, I justified the purchase by telling myself that I’m in a car far too much (I work out of town Monday through Friday) and that I should be comfortable during my commutes. Also, my 2005 Chevrolet Aveo had nearly 150,000 miles on it, which isn’t too bad, but deep down I was worried that its time may be coming to an end and I wanted to join the grownup world and own a grownup car. So far, I love my new ride and if you’re in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I recommend that you give Dave Singh at Freeman Toyota a shout. If you need those digits, here they are: 888-438-2019.

If you’ve ever bought a new vehicle, you know how exciting and inconvenient the experience can be. It’s exciting because, well, you own a new vehicle. But it can be inconvenient because you have to sort through your glovebox and throw away the trash and transfer all of the important papers to your new ride. And don’t forget to put your sunglasses in your new car. It took me a couple of weeks to remember that one.

In my old car, the Aveo, I had one of those Sirius Radio receivers — the kind that you can install yourself without having to replace your car’s factory radio. You just stick the magnet on the roof of your car, run the wires through your door, mount the receiver on your dash, and set your car radio’s FM station so that it receives the Sirius signal, and you’re good to go. When I went on my first trip to West Texas — a six-and-a-half-hour adventure — and found myself losing radio stations and unable to find anything interesting when I could get a signal, I decided that it was time to give Sirius a try. However, my new car, the Venza, has XM Radio.

As you may or may not know, Sirius recently acquired XM, so both companies are partners in the satellite radio industry. Well, kinda. When I tried to transfer my Sirius service to my XM radio, I learned that the transition was not as easy as one might hope. The customer service rep notified me that Sirius and XM aren’t exactly on the same system, so I had to cancel my service with Sirius and start a new account with XM. I would be reimbursed what I had paid for my Sirius service, on a pro-rated basis, and I would not be charged for the activation of my car’s XM radio. It’s not a perfect scenario, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a big deal, so I went ahead and ran with it.

Of course, when I canceled my Sirius service, their own rep tried to get me to keep the service. He explained that I could keep the other radio and put it in another car. Well, if that option were free, I might have taken him up on his offer, but given my limited pocketbook, I politely declined.

Since then, Sirius had continued to call me non-stop. I suppose that this is an effort to get my business back, but when I answer, all I get is silence, as if the call refuses to transfer to the next available rep. They call me every day, numerous times a day, sometimes well into the evening hours. I know that it is Sirius who calls me because one time I accidentally called the number back and got their recorded greeting. Apparently, I’m not the only one who has had this experience and perhaps I should do what David has done.

Seriously, who thought of this method of getting customers back and said to himself, “Hey, I think that’s a good idea!” And worse yet, how could anyone explain this method to someone else and convince him that it’s a good idea? To me, this is a case of forgetting the human side of business. Is this company so focused on numbers that they do not see the problem with continually harassing people — and worse yet, when people answer, all they get is silence! Besides, what do they expect me to do — cancel my XM subscription and return to Sirius? Then I’ll probably have XM doing the same thing to me! Oh yeah, I can’t get Sirius through my car’s factory radio anyway, or I would never have switched my subscription in the first place.

This situation blows my mind and this system feels completely broken. Part of me feels that I should look for an alternative service provider — but oh wait, Sirius now has a monopoly on the satellite radio industry. But that’s a discussion best left for another day.

Has anyone else experienced something similar to this? Does your company do something similar? Should the Sirius/XM executives be kicked in the shin consistently for this behavior? I say yes, but tell me what you think.

Success. We all want it. That’s not the question; the question is, What is success? How do you define it?

This transcends over a number of situations. If you played sports in high school, how did you define whether you were successful? Did you want to be a starter? Did you want to letter? Did you want a college scholarship? Sure, we all want to be “good”, but “good” is so ambiguous. What the hell does that even mean?

What about when you’re planning a career? In my opinion, this is one of the worst things about graduating college. I’d say that 9 out of 10 (I have no hard data to back this up, but you know it’s true!) graduates have no idea what they want to do with their lives. I can speak from my own experience. All through school, I knew that I was going to go to college. I can remember growing up in a poor tiny town with very little opportunity, and my mom saying, “You know that if you want to get out of here, you have to go to college, right?” By the way, if you’re reading this, thanks Mom. Sincerely.

So there it was. I knew that I was going to go to college. Luckily, I had gotten to see a few college campuses in high school and knew that I wanted to attend Louisiana Tech University. And thanks to Louisiana’s TOPS (Tuition Opportunity Program for Students), my tuition was paid for. Perfect!

The only question left was, What am I going to major in? Uh…

I had no idea, but I started in journalism, and 3 majors later, I finally settled on marketing. No, I don’t mean that I found my calling in marketing; I settled on marketing. I wanted to graduate and it seemed like a quick route, so I took it. Although marketing is not directly a part of my current profession, I have a strong interest in it, but that was not the case back in college.

So then you graduate and then you’re supposed to find a job. No wait, scratch that. Not a job. A career.

Welcome to the Real World, kid. Time to put your Big Boy pants on.

Unfortunately, many, if not most, graduates spend the first 20+ years of life focused on school. That’s their job. In most cases, the closest thing you can find is becoming a teacher. In most cases, being a professional student doesn’t pay the bills. But now, all of a sudden, you’re supposed to find your muse. Your passion. Your…whatever it is that’s going to put money in the bank.

I know I’ve been there. And it sucks. It’s so difficult to plot your route if you don’t know what your destination is.

What if you’re starting a new company? What are you moving toward? Sure, you want to be successful and you want to make money, but what exactly are you hoping to accomplish? Are you looking to have enough work to hire five employees? Are you hoping to open a second office? Are you taking the Wal-Mart route and looking at world domination?

The same rules apply when you’re buying a new car. What will this car be used for? Daily commute? Mostly vacations or carrying the kids to soccer practice? Do you need more space or fuel economy? Who’s going to be the primary driver?

And when you’re buying a home. Is this a starter home? Are you looking for something that you can grow into? Are kids in the future? It’s much easier to find what you want when you know what it is that you want.

Finding your destination isn’t always the easiest thing to do, and I can’t claim that I have all of my destinations in mind.

But hey, knowing’s half the battle, right?

This past weekend my father-in-law came to visit, and I thought that it would be a good idea to take him to the Rahr & Sons Brewery in Fort Worth. Even with the renovations that took place after snow caused the roof to collapse last year, not much had changed, other than the price of admission. For $7, you get a mug and three tickets for beer samples. That may sound like a pretty good value (and it is), but the real value came from the experience.

Unfortunately, although I enjoy talking to my father-in-law, I don’t get to do it too often. And it’s not too often that I can think of something that he and I may enjoy doing without bringing my wife along (she is his daughter, after all). But when you spread three mugs of beer out over the period of 2-3 hours, it’s not very hard to find the conversation flowing easily. We talked about a variety of subjects: family, work, whatever. And we had a great time sitting outside and peoplewatching, one of my favorite hobbies of all time.

We ended up skipping the actual tour and continued drinking and carrying on. It was more of “a keg party than a brewery tour”, as my father-in-law called it, anyway. The weather was nice, the event was great, and the price was cheap. What else could you ask for?

As is always the case, Rahr & Sons had some local live musical entertainment. Early in the tour, hardly anyone was paying him any attention. But as we were leaving, he began playing “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Although I hate the song, it led to quite a moment. Not only were many brewery tourists now paying attention to the musician, they were singing along. Intoxicated people had their phones out and were recording the moment. There were smiles all around, even on my face, despite the fact that Journey usually sounds about as delightful as fingernails on a chalkboard, in my humble opinion.

It was in that moment that I truly realized what a great marketing idea and opportunity these tours were. I can’t help wondering, how many times will I (and the many others) think about that day the next time that we pop a top on our favorite Rahr & Sons brews? These tours are an opportunity to sell an experience, something that a major brewery like Anheuser-Busch or MillerCoors rarely gets a chance to do. And how often do patrons of Anheuser-Busch or MillerCoors get a chance to see the location where their favorite beers are brewed? If you drink Rahr & Sons, there’s a damn good chance that you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which means that the brewery is pretty much in your backyard, or as “backyard” as breweries can get, unless you’re talking about Shiner Beers.

Surely, the reminiscing of moments that these tours create will subconsciously cause someone to reach for a Rahr beer once or twice when he’s at the liquor store. It’s a long-term approach to marketing that can often be hard to pull off, but I think that these guys are on to something.

The tour was made better by the fact that my father-in-law had never tried any of their beers, so it was a completely new experience for him. We tried my three favorite offerings from Rahr: Rahr Blonde, Ugly Pug, and Buffalo Butt. Funny names, I know. But they’re good, trust me.

In college, I had my own fair share of both good and bad drinking moments, but I assure you that this past weekend at Rahr & Sons was a beer-drinking experience like no other.

And I mean that in a good way.

Many business people like sports metaphors, so here we go:

Ah, sports fandom. You gotta love it. It’s amusing how invested people get into rooting for their favorite teams. When your team loses, your weekend may be ruined. And if your team’s had a bad season, you just put your head down, put your tail between your legs, bite your tongue as all of your friends make fun of you for your “championship guarantee”, and you wait for the draft. But hey, as long as you embarrassed your rivals, all is not lost.

The great thing about being a sports fan is the wave, the ups and downs. Sometimes your team gets into a bit of a rut (if you’re a Raiders fan, “rut” is how you refer to every season after 2003). You get made fun of for refusing to give up on your team, and it bites when you get made fun of by bandwagon fans of franchises to whom the concept of winning is very, very new. (Disclaimer: I am in no way referring to fans of the New Orleans Saints. Honestly, I’m not. No, really, you can believe me.)

But you take it in stride with a smile and the satisfaction of knowing that one day your team will be back on top.

But there is an easy way out…

There is another path you can take: you can root for your other favorite team. Yeah, you know, your Plan B, your emergency team, the one you keep in your back pocket just in case things don’t go right for your primary team. In all honesty, this is a great strategy. If one team wins and the other loses, you have only a mediocre weekend, as opposed to a completely crappy weekend. If they both win, you hit the jackpot! And if they both lose, you just say, “Oh, I really only care about Team A,” so the fact that your other team lost doesn’t really sting all that bad.

And then, when one of your favorite teams makes it to the championship, you say, “Oh, I know I’ve rooted for Team B for a long time, but I’ve always been a fan of Team A! No lie! Like, really!”

But can such a person be trusted?

In the world of sports fandom, I have no respect for these no good flip-floppers. This is not what being a sports fan is all about. It’s about putting all of your eggs in one basket, devoting all of the energy left over from work and family and friends into this one entity, into this one community. When your one team loses, you suffer really hard. But when they win, it’s oh so sweet.

And if a person can’t dedicate himself to only one team in one professional league, I have to wonder if he can dedicate himself to more serious matters. There are only 32 teams in the National Football League. There are only 120 teams in the FBS. Divison I college basketball includes 347 teams. That may sound like a lot to you. But there are nearly 7 billion people living in the world today. How can you be trusted to find one soulmate if you can’t even dedicate yourself to only one sports team in the same league? How can you be trusted to stick to one business decision when there may be an infinite number of choices?

Colin Cowherd, host of The Herd on ESPN Radio has said that when he’s hiring new staff, he asks the potential employee if he plays fantasy football. If the answer is yes, the guy isn’t hired, because many fantasy football players waste time at work by tinkering with their fantasy leagues. But, I think that the next time I’m in a position to hire someone, I’m going to ask him how many teams he roots for. I think you can already see what implication his answer will have. And if I ever have a daughter, you can be damned sure that whenever she gets old enough to start dating, every boy who comes around to woo her will be asked the same question.

If you root for multiple teams in different sports leagues, that is completely acceptable. After all, if you’re a fan of the NFL and the NBA, you gotta have a team you represent from both factions. But if you root for multiple teams in the same league, you are not to be trusted. You, my friend, have commitment issues.

P.S. For the most part, this post was written in good fun. But I’d be lying if I said that there wasn’t a bit of honesty in it, at least in the way that I see things.

Image Credit: Hard Knox Sports